There is a very serious political crisis in the country, Anar Mammadli

Baku /31.05.18/Turan: Anar Mammadli, the Head of the Elections Monitoring and Democracy Studies Center in an interview with "Voice of America" ​​and the Turan agency analyzes the socio-political situation in the country after the presidential election. Before the elections, the authorities "fed" the people with promises of serious reforms and liberalization. However, nothing of the sort happened. On the contrary, repression began against the political opponents of the regime. What is the reason? Answering this question, Mammadli said that these repressions have two reasons: the first is a negative assessment by the leading international organizations of the presidential elections. The second reason is the velvet revolution in Armenia and the fear of the authorities that this process can spread to Azerbaijan.

The persecution of the activists of the Popular Front Party is explained precisely by this, Mammadli said. The absence of a significant number of pardoned political prisoners on the list also explains the fear of the authorities, who are not really ready for real liberalization of the society.

However, this is a losing position for the authorities. It would be much more profitable for them to remove tension in the society, to eliminate aggression and take a step towards civil reconciliation. Unfortunately, they chose the way of tightening the screws, not understanding that this could lead to a social explosion, Mammadli said.

What is the reason for the authorities' refusal to comply with the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights regarding Ilgar Mammadov, Ali Insanov and others? Answering this question, Mammadli noted that it is important for the authorities to demonstrate that the decisions of international structures, and in particular the European Court, do not matter. In addition, to keep these people in custody after the decisions of the European Court are possible only if there is personal hatred at the highest level.

However, such "stubbornness" will be costly for Azerbaijan, and it can be subject to sanctions of the Council of Europe, Mammadli is convinced.

He believes that the authorities have lost the sense of reality and believe that their main enemies are political opponents in the face of the Popular Front parties, Musavat and REAL, but the real threat comes from extremist, radical religious groups. If you completely suppress the political opposition, then their place will necessarily be taken by these very radical groups.

Repressions against the liberal opposition give the radicals the opportunity to assert that democratic methods of power struggle do not make sense, and therefore, it is necessary to fight with the authorities by other methods. -03B-